Car Accident Sidekick App Claims To Find Nearby Ambulance-Chasers

Ads from ambulance-chasers make life worth living. Many are so outrageous, so ridiculous, so covered in schmaltz that viewers can't help but smile. But the times they are a-changin': a new app for accident victims could make such cheesy TV spots obsolete.

The app is called "Car Accident Sidekick" (the website for which is actually TrafficCollisionAttorneys.com). Not surprisingly, the app is brought you by the "American Lawyer Academy", which appears to be a professional organization for, well, traffic collision attorneys.

"Car Accident Sidekick" claims to have many great features, including:

We would love to tell you about each and every one of those features, except we couldn't get past the login screen. We searched in vain for something we might've done wrong, but to no avail, and the app's alerts and error messages were penned by someone with lamentably poor communications skills. For an industry that seems very eager to be in touch with potential clients, this struck us as a little weird.

And so for now, we suggest sticking with the app provided by your auto insurance agency. Allstate, Progressive, State Farm, and most other major insurers have them, and like "Car Accident Sidekick", they're typically free. (They also often come in Android, Blackberry, and Windows varieties, unlike "Car Accident Sidekick", which is only for the iPhone.)

If your agency doesn't provide an app, or if you don't have a smartphone, don't worry: your mobile can still be useful in the event of an accident. After you've called your agent, use your phone's built-in camera to document the collision, and photograph paperwork from the other driver(s) after you've copied down the info by hand. You can worry about finding a lawyer later -- they're not going anywhere.